Florence, Again?

What a treat it was to spend the week traveling with my mom on a Tauck tour! Having someone else take care of all the planning and stress, not worrying about transportation, and being treated to such luxurious privileges was beyond amazing! I sure hope Greg and I are going to be able to adjust back to our backpacker, "dollar-a-day" version of international travel!


Substantially cheaper to fly home on Sunday from Milan, Greg and I have to spend one more day eating gelato and pizza, drinking wine, and gazing at wondrous monuments. Kill me now.

Choosing Florence over Milan, we spent the day leisurely putting in five times the steps of any Tauck tour day. It is a breath of fresh air. I literally feel like I can breath better, and even Greg admits it was a nice day, walking around doing our own thing.

We start with the incredible Renaissance art at the Pitti Palace, one of Florence's biggest museums. This enormous palace is one of Florence's largest architectural monuments, and the primary residence of the Medici family for 200 years. Now the gallery holds some of the most impressive works of art by some of my favorite artists: Raphael, Botticelli, Titian, Caravaggio, Lippi, etc. In fact, the Pitti's Raphael collection is the second-biggest anywhere – the Vatican beats it by one.

"Madonna of the Chair" is one of Rafael's best-known works. How amazing it must be to have it hanging in your home!

Next we want to make sure we hit our favorite Florence foods and sights. Greg's childish sense of direction never ceases to entertain me. Steps away from his leather store, I checked in with him, "Do you know where we are?" He hesitates, then happily exclaims, "Florence!" A little later, now that our room is available, I mention we should go to the hotel. Still walking in the same direction, he says ok. And then hesitates again ... "Are we headed there?"

I think the number one way to fully "feel" a destination is to claim a seat in it somewhere - just plop down and take it all in. My two favorite places to do this in Florence are the Piazza della Signoria and Piazzale Michelangelo. So we make time to do both.

We take a sandwich and wine from nearby I Fratellini and sit in Piazza della Signoria

Grom gelato next to the duomo

Thoroughly enjoying the sunset view and music at Piazzale Michelangelo

For dinner, Greg is having withdrawals and cannot leave Italy without eating another pizza. With a clear view of the kitchen and its pizza oven, with a strong sense of finality, he announces he is going to start building our own.


Going back to our room wasn't easy - it meant our trip was over. Tomorrow we take the first train to Milan to catch our flight home.

Goodbye dome of Florence, until we meet again.

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